Method of preparing and distributing portioned meals, preferably for use in air transport

ABSTRACT

When making meals ready for air transport, soiled service and cutlery (24), when arriving in an airport, are sorted, cover-divided in baskets, for use for the next flight. The soiled service is sent into an industrial dishwasher, following which it is provided with food and packed in carts. Large amounts of storage space are saved in this manner in the individual airports, since the cycle time for storage of service and cutlery can be reduced from 26 hours to about 2 hours.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The invention concerns a method of preparing and distributing portionedmeals, preferably for use in air transport.

The invention moreover concerns a basket for use in the performance ofthe method and a cutlery holder for use in the basket.

As will be known, much transport today takes place by air. In connectionwith air transport, a meal is usually served, which may be composedrather differently according to which airline is in charge of thetransport. Generally, however, some form of food is served on the vastmajority of flights.

With the many daily flights it is huge amounts of meals that have to beprepared. It is therefore quite natural to try to rationalize all cyclesof operations in connection with the preparation of air meals.

FIG. 1 shows a typical sequence in the preparation of meals inconnection with flights. As will be seen in FIG. 1, a kitchen for colddishes and a kitchen for hot dishes receive food products from externalsuppliers. When the food has been prepared, the meals are made ready,i.e. served on trays, including e.g. saucers, glasses, cups, cutlery,etc. When the meals have been-made ready, they are placed in a trolley,hereinafter called a cart throughout this specification. The cart isdriven out to the aircraft, and following departure the meals are servedto the passengers. Before the aircraft lands, all service and cutleryare collected and again placed on a cart. Then the soiled service andcutlery are moved to an industrial dishwasher in which they are washed.After washing, service and cutlery are placed in a store, so the entireprocedure can be repeated again. As will be appreciated, a store isrequired in each air kitchen, and this store must be so large as toconstantly have enough service and cutlery available for subsequentflights. Cutlery, service, cups and glasses are stored in the individualair kitchens in such a manner that the store is divided according toeach type of service for each individual airline. Further, it is notunusual for stores to have to be provided with a capacity of coveringthe needs for service and cutlery for about 26 hours, which is the cycletime from arrival to departure of service, and with the many dailyflights it will be appreciated that air kitchens must have very largestores of service and cutlery.

Accordingly, the object of the invention is to provide a method ofpreparing and distributing portioned meals which saves storage space.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This object is achieved by a method of the type defined comprising thesteps of:

a) receiving raw materials from suppliers

b) preparing meals in portioned units which are placed in service,

c) making service and cutlery ready on trays

d) packing meal units in carts

e) transporting carts to aircraft

f) packing the soiled service in carts after the passengers of theaircraft have consumed the meals

g) transporting the soiled service back from the aircraft, removingservice and cutlery from the carts and passing them on for washing-up ina dishwasher.

This method is characterized by

h) sorting the soiled service and cutlery immediately upon removal fromthe carts into such units as correspond to the requirement for ready andclean service, and

i) directly passing the soiled service to the dishwasher, and then

j) repeating steps a-g.

When the method is performed in this manner, a very great storage spacesaving is obtained, since instead of a store for 26 hours, a store forabout 2 hours now suffices, said 2 hours being the cycle time fromarrival to departure.

In an advantageous embodiment of the method, a minor buffer store forthe completion of service and cutlery is provided in step h).

This provides the advantage that where some service has disappeared forone reason or another during transport, it is possible to supplementwith new cutlery from the buffer store. Further the buffer store is alsoadvantageous, if other meals than those just arrived with the lastaircraft have to be served.

Additionally, the method is advantageous in that the soiled service,cutlery and trays are placed in baskets, which are adapted to receive atleast a complete set of soiled service with cutlery and tray.

This provides an extremely well-arranged cycle of operations, sincetrays, cutlery and service, when leaving the dishwasher, can be handledand made ready very quickly.

In an embodiment, the method is also advantageous in that, between stepsi) and j), cutlery is packed in bags in cover units, or that the cutleryis packed by rolling-up in a napkin and is put back in the baskets.

Additionally, the method is advantageous in that, after wrapping ofcutlery, service, cutlery and trays are removed from the baskets, and anapkin as well as cutlery, cups, glasses, salt and pepper and the likeare placed on the tray, while the units to be provided with food arecollected in other baskets and are passed to a central location to befilled with food, and then the units provided with food are returned tothe trays, which are then placed in carts.

This provides a very flexible organization of the work, it being notedthat within a period of 2 hours from the arrival of the soiled servicewith the aircraft it is made ready on carts, after washing, and is readyfor the flight. Finally, the method is advantageous in that thepreparation and distribution of the portioned meals are performed bymeans of several parallel dishwashers.

When several parallel dishwashers are used, the work may be organizedsuch that each parallel dishwasher serves a few, e.g. three to seven,airlines. This is a help to the operators, because the number ofdifferent tray accessories to be managed is then reduced.

As mentioned, the invention also concerns a basket for use in theperformance of the method. This basket is characterized in that thebasket is divided into compartments, which correspond precisely to thereception of the contents of service to be washed from preferably one,max. two baskets.

The basket gives a clear cycle of operations for the staff, sinceservice, cutlery and trays, already when leaving the dishwasher, aredivided into portioned units with the things that are to be present onthe next flight.

The basket is advantageously equipped with a lid that partly covers it.

This is an advantage in connection with the washing-up, since cups,which are usually used in aircraft, are light cups of plastics which donot turn while the machine washes.

Finally, it is advantageous that the bottom of basket is constructed forconveyance on conveyor belts.

Finally, the invention also concerns a cutlery holder for use in thebasket. This cutlery holder is characterized in that it is constructedas a ramp having at least two elevations, one of which terminates theramp and merges into a horizontal member.

This cutlery-holder is extremely expedient in connection withready-making on a conveyor belt, where many baskets are to be filled andemptied, since the cutlery holder ensures rapid removal and positioningof cutlery from and in the baskets.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be explained more fully now in connection with anembodiment of the invention as shown in the drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a flow diagram of a known manner of preparing anddistributing portioned meals, as already mentioned in the foregoing,

FIG. 2 is an explanatory view of a dishwasher, with the various routinesassociated with it,

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a complete system for preparing anddistributing portioned meals according to the invention,

FIG. 4 shows a basket for use in the performance of the invention,

FIG. 5 shows a cutlery holder for use in the basket of FIG. 4, and

FIG. 6 shows how the baskets on a production line are packed.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 2 shows the lay-out of a kitchen for use when making meals ready.The kitchen is divided into three areas, where area I is the area wheresoiled service is received and sorted, area II is the actual dishwasher,and area III is the area where washed service is made ready. In area I,the soiled service from a flight is received in carts (i.e. trolleys)and is sorted in a special basket, which will be described in connectionwith FIG. 4. Waste is discarded into a hole 2 near the sortinglocation 1. A buffer store 4 is provided at the sorting location 1, andthis buffer store is used for completing and/or supplementing the coverunits that are to be made now of soiled service. The buffer store isarranged such that it has precisely the units that are to be used forthe next flight. If the next flight is to have another composition ofmeals, the buffer store is provided with sufficient cutlery for this.The buffer store moreover has the advantage that it is now possible tocheck the amount of waste that might have occurred at the last flight.This is easily done, it being merely observed how much of the servicefrom the buffer store is used in the making of the new covers. The wastecan thus be measured merely by counting the buffer store before andafter use. When the soiled service has been divided into portions, it isconveyed by a conveyor belt 5 into the area II, where it is washed up ina dishwasher 6. After washing-up, which takes place in a modifiedindustrial dishwasher, the cleaned service arrives at the area III, thebaskets arriving at an area 7 where the cleaned cutlery is wrapped inplastics sheet or placed on a napkin. The ready cutlery is put backwhere it came from in the basket, following which the basket istransported to the next area where service and cutlery are removed fromthe basket in such a manner that the service to be provided with food isplaced in larger trays and is transported to a kitchen for cold dishesor a kitchen for hot dishes. The rest of the service, such as cutlery,cups, glasses, salt and pepper, etc., made ready on a tray, is conveyedon a conveyor belt further on to the location 10 where the saucers andbowls filled with food are put back on the tray. The ready trays arethen packed in carts 11 and are now ready for the next flight. As willbe appreciated, the transport of service and cutlery takes place on abelt provided with baskets that circulate in an endless path, thebaskets being at no time removed from the belt that runs in thedirections of the arrows shown in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 shows a flow diagram of the process in the ready-making ofportioned meals according to the invention. It will be seen to the leftin FIG. 3 that raw materials are supplied by external suppliers, saidraw materials being transported to a production department where thefood is prepared and portioned. FIG. 3 shows an assembly line consistingof three flow lines. These three flow lines separately correspond to theone shown in FIG. 2. The three flow lines are constructed in the samemanner and can each handle typically from three to seven differentairlines. Thus, the assembly line shown in FIG. 3 can typically serve upto 21 different airlines. The advantage of dividing it into severalunits is that the staff then just have to be attentive to therequirements of seven airlines with respect to the laying of trays. Thisminimizes possible errors, and simultaneously the smaller units have theeffect on the staff operating the assembly line that they constitute ateam who are jointly responsible for the operation proceeding assmoothly as possible. After the trays have been made ready, and theyhave been packed in carts, they are transported out to the externalcustomers which are the various airlines. When the flight is over, theprocess is repeated, and when it is performed as described, the servicejust arrived at an airport can be sent off within a time interval ofjust 2 hours.

FIG. 4 shows a basket which is extremely expedient for use on the lineof FIG. 2. The figure shows that the basket has two insertable cutlerybaskets 13 and two elongate compartments 14 for trays and some centrallylocated compartments 16 to receive saucers, glasses and cups. FIG. 4additionally shows a lid 15 which may be placed over part of the tray.This is an advantage in particular concerning cups and glasses that areused in aircraft, since they are ordinarily of a light material, such asplastics, and are therefore generally susceptible to the washing jets ofthe dishwasher. In other words, the cups and the glasses might turnduring the washing process, which, of course, is not desirable since afurther buffer store then has to be provided at the exit of thedishwasher. The lid 15 can thus retain the cups and the glasses in thecorrect positions during the entire washing sequence. As an alternativeto the lid 15, holding means in the form of pins 20 may be provided inthe basket itself, said pins being capable of pivoting about the pivot21. When light cups are placed in the basket, the pins hold the cups,which then to do not topple about in the basket during washing.

FIG. 5 shows a cutlery holder 22 which may be used instead of thecutlery basket 13. As will be seen from FIG. 5, it is constructed as aramp 25 having two elevations 23, one of which terminates the ramp andmerges into a horizontal member 26. When the cutlery 24 is placed on theelevations 23, it will be effectively washed on all faces in adishwasher.

As will be seen, the basket in FIG. 4 is designed for precisely twocovers. This is extremely advantageous, since the basket then lendsitself for e.g. the serving of both luxurious meals, e.g. on long firstclass flights, and more modest meals on short flights, as the basket maythen be used as a cover for first class preparation, while the basketmay contain two covers for somewhat shorter flights where therequirements with respect to the meals and thus the amount of serviceare not so great.

Finally, FIG. 6 shows part of the air kitchen according to theinvention. A section is shown at a location where the cutlery has beenmade ready, and where saucers are sorted in bigger baskets 18 forconveyance to a cold dish kitchen or a hot dish kitchen to be filledwith food. The rest of the contents of the basket, such as glasses,cups, salt, pepper and a cloth on a tray, is conveyed by a conveyor belt19 further on to a receiving station where the saucers now filled areagain placed on the tray, following which everything is placed in cartsand is ready to be sent with the next flight.

We claim:
 1. A method for preparing and distributing portioned meals onaircraft, comprising the steps of:a) receiving raw materials fromsuppliers; b) preparing means in portioned units from said rawmaterials; c) making clean service units and clean cutlery units readyon trays; d) placing the meal units on the trays and packing the traysin carts; e) transporting the carts to aircraft; f) packing soiledservice and cutlery in carts after passengers of the aircraft haveconsumed the meal units; g) transporting the carts containing the soiledservice and cutlery away from the aircraft and removing the soiledservice and cutlery from the carts; h) sorting the soiled service andcutlery immediately upon removal form the carts into at least soiledservice units which correspond to said clean service units; i) directlypassing the units of soiled service to the dishwasher; and j) repeatingsteps a-g).
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the soiled service andcutlery are sorted into soiled service units and soiled cutlery units instep h) which correspond to said clean service units and said cleancutlery units and passing both said soiled units to the dishwasher instep i).
 3. The method of claim 2, including providing a buffer store instep h) for completing, if necessary, the soiled service and cutleryunits.
 4. The method of claim 2, including placing the soiled serviceunits, soiled cutlery units and trays in baskets which are adapted toreceive at least one complete set of a soiled service unit, a soiledcutlery unit, and a tray.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein betweensteps i) and j), clean cutlery units are removed from the baskets,wrapped in cover units, and returned to the baskets.
 6. The method ofclaim 5, including removing clean service units, clean cutlery units,and the trays from the baskets after wrapping of the cutlery units,passing the clean service units to be provided with food to a centrallocation to be filled with food, placing on the tray a napkin, a wrappedcutlery unit, cups, glasses, salt and pepper, returning the serviceunits filled with food to the trays, and then packing the trays in thecarts.